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Wednesday, 24 February 2016

Respect

This article was written with
Roger Froikin.

Let us start by prefacing that this article is our own personal opinion, as
blogs generally are. If any of the readers feel that we are expressing their
view, then so be it. That, however, is not our intention.

More importantly, this
article is NOT an apology. It is merely another endeavor by us to try and
explain why so many Jewsare skeptical
of and are unwelcoming to Christians; especially thosewho insist that we Jews, should
let them into our teachings and that we should be forever grateful for their
support of our People and our Jewish state.

Firstly, we believe that we,
Jews, are indeed appreciative and grateful to anyone who supports us as we are
certain that many non- Jews are, likewise, grateful to the modern day Jewish
state of Israel and Am Yisrael for their gifts and contributions. It is a
two way street.

Secondly, we feel that Jews
are doing pretty well in letting Christians "into our Jewish
teachings," mainly because we have no way of preventing or stopping it.
That, however, Is not the issue that we intend to address here. What we wish to
request of those that recite and mention our Holy Tanach is that in the process
of adoptingthat which
is solely ours they respect us and remember a few important principles.

At the cost of repeating
ourselves, we feel a nagging need to remind Christians and others yet again
that the Torah and the whole Tanach were gifts to the Jewish people first and
foremost and that as such Jewish interpretations passed down as traditions are
primary ones to be appreciated and respected. Yes, we are instructed to share
their message, their moral code with the world, which in fact we do and
willingly so.

It is not our intention to
enter into a theological debate with Christians and others. Such an attempt
would be merely another exercise in futility. As far as we are concerned, they
can continue to believe whatever they wish and whatever suits their faith.

We will, though, say it and
say it unwaveringly, that what others believe about our Jewish writing is
irrelevant to us. Christianity needs its Jewish roots to provide it with its
moral basis. Judaism, however, does not need Christianity and members of the
Jewish faith can and should ignore it ideologically. Christianity has nothing
to contribute to Judaism. Unlike the support which is a two way street,
ideologically, Christianity cannot add anything to Judaism. It merely dilutes
it.

Naturally, Christians have
been raised to believe that theircreeds are
as important to Jews as the Jewish ones are to them. This, unfortunately, leads
many of them to the conviction and the practice of trying to explain to us,
Jews, what our writings mean to us.

This is akin to a
Chinese man who loves Shakespeare and reads every one of his plays and sonnets
in Chinese translation. Seeing them through the lens of Chinese culture and
experience, he then tries to dictate to the English that his Chinese
interpretation of Shakespeare was the most authentic and accurate --- the
English scholars would laugh. By the same token, when a Christian, through the
lens of his Christian experience reads the Bible and the Prophets in
translation and then tries to tell Jews what it all really means, we should and
must ignore it

We will ignore it yet continue
to respect those Christians who choose to believe it. At the same time,
we should also continue to reiterate that no interpretation by another people
or another faith based on their cultural and historic view can ever be as valid
as our own Jewish one.

If our Christian friends wish
us to continue to show them mutual respect, they should just leave us alone and
let us continue to believe what we have for several millennia. Mutual respect
is a key to making this world a better place. And who does not want to make the
world a better place?